Hi everibody,

I need to optimize an extraction procedure for vitamin K1 and vitamins D2 and D3.

The results I am obtaining suggest that the addition of a very small amount of water (1% in a mixture composed of 9% EtOH and 90% CO2) improves significally the recovery for vitamins D but not for vitamin K. I am trying to explain that. Both are fat-soluble vitamins so this improvement should not be observed.

Is it possible that water can idrolize the double bonds of vitamins D increasing the solubility in ethanol? I believe this is more difficult to happen for vitamin K1 because the double bond included in the aromatic system if very stable becouse of the cheto-enol tautomerism. I am not sure about the double bond in the aliphatic chain, can the idrolization occur? Is that position too sterically encumbered? And if the idrolization occur, is it enough to make vitamin K1 polar enough to be more soluble in EtOH?

Thanks in advance to anyone who will try to help me.

What's "idrolization"? I've not come across that term before.

You didn't say what the source of the vitamins you are extracting is. Perhaps the water improves the interaction of the solvent with the source material.

 

Edited December 6, 20241 yr by KJW

5 hours ago, KJW said:

What's "idrolization"? I've not come across that term before.

You didn't say what the source of the vitamins you are extracting is. Perhaps the water improves the interaction of the solvent with the source material.

 

Sorry, i was talking about hydrolysis of the double bonds. The source is food supplement, some salt of fatty acid are also present in the formulation.  

2 hours ago, Anea98 said:

Sorry, i was talking about hydrolysis of the double bonds. The source is food supplement, some salt of fatty acid are also present in the formulation.  

 Perhaps the effect of water is due to an improvement in the polarity of the medium, which helps vitamin D dissolution, rather than a chemical change